Exploring and telling the stories of my ancestors - the English and Welsh heritage connections

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Gathering the Clan

Who are we?
My clan is a mixture of the Allery's and the Cutting's - ancestors who began our heritage in several English and Welsh counties. Let me introduce you to the central characters of this first blog entry and we can then listen to them recount the history of their lives, their occupations and their stories - they are my great grandfathers, Charles Harry Cutting and Samuel John Allery.

Charles Harry Cutting

1835 was the year my mother's grandfather was born - Charles Harry in the Cutting line. Charles Harry Cutting was born in Thruxton, Hampshire, son of Thomas Cutting (Carpenter) and Lucy Colebrook.

According to the 1871 census Charles was also a carpenter at the time he married his wife Sarah H Newland. They married at Strand in Hampshire in June 1856 - he being only 21 and Sarah being two years older at 23.
Together they had four children, and bestowed the name of Harry as a second name for three of them. The middle son, Charles gained his mother's maiden name as well, giving him the grand name of Charles Harry Newland Cutting; he was my grandfather. His older brother Harry Newland Cutting lived only to the age of three; he probably died of a childhood disease, a common occurrence in families of this era.

The 1911 census shows both Charles and Sarah living at their six roomed house at 11 Wyndham Road, Kingston-on-Thames, they are now aged 75 and 77 respectively and have been married for 43 years.They lived longer than the average age expectancy for the era: Life expectancy was then 54 years for women and 50 for men.

Their location at Kingston-on-Thames was indicative of their standard of living. Kingston a well-to-do area of Greater London is to feature in the weaving of my family history in the 19th Century - a joining of the Cuttings and Allery's.

Samuel John Allery

In September 1847 my father's grandfather was born - Samuel John of the Allery line. Samuel John Allery was born to William Allery (Tailor) and Mary Newth, in Newington, Devon.

Samuel obviously had a great capacity for life and children as he married twice and fathered 15 children. His first marriage to Mary Ann Hall, my great grandmother, took place on the 2nd December 1867 in Lambeth, Surrey. They were aged 21 and 19 and were supported by both their fathers on their wedding day at St John's church - both having signed the marriage certificate at the time. Samuel's father William and Mary's father Henry Hall (Sail maker). Together they had eight children, one of whom was my grandfather, Walter Frederick Allery born in 1872. Walter also took on the Tailoring trade and became a Master Tailor. His mother, my great grandmother Mary Ann, died in 1881 - I suspect that she had complications with the birth of her last child Jennie Selina, who was born in 1880 but lived only for one year. Perhaps Mary Ann died of a broken heart after the loss of such a small child.

Samuel was later to marry Jemima Blackburn in 1884 and together had another seven children - all sons - many of them living into the 20th century. According to the 1911 census they had been married for 26 years. The census also showed that all the sons of working age had a trade associated such as Decorator, Printer, Labourer but only one followed his father into the Tailoring industry. In this year they were living at 196 Commercial Road, Camberwell, London.

Location was important for the trade of Tailoring and Samuel John Allery made a good living - being able to support two wives and a tribe of children. His son Walter Frederick Allery chose this up and coming location for his Tailoring business.

Location near London would also have been important for the trade of carpentry and Charles Harry Cutting was able to afford to live in Kingston-on-Thames - an area where his son Charles Harry Newland Cutting was to make his small fortune.